CONSIDER. . .THE IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY & THE PEACEMAKER

Think not forever of yourselves…
nor of your own generation.
Think of continuing generations…
and of those yet unborn…
– The Peacemaker…the Iroquois Confederacy, Circa 1100 A.D.

The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, one of the world’s oldest democracies, emerged somewhere between 1100 A.D. and 1150 A.D. [two researchers put the date of 31 August, 1142 as the date because the Iroquois said that the law of the Five Nations was adopted by the Senecas (the last of the five nations to ratify it) shortly after a total eclipse of the sun and in New York between 1100 A.D. and 1150 A.D. the total eclipse occurred on 31 August, 1142].
The Iroquois Confederacy along with the government of Iceland and the Swiss cantons are the oldest continuously functioning democracies on earth. All three precedents have been cited as forerunners of the United States system of representative democracy. The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy functions today in Upstate New York; it even issues passports.

The journey of Deganawidah (The Peacemaker – see his famous quote above) and Hiawatha (yes, THAT Hiawatha) in support of the Great Law had begun about a quarter-century earlier with the Mohawks, at the “eastern door” of the Confederacy, about 25 years earlier. “Haudenosaunee” means “People of the Longhouse.” “Iroquois” is a French term for the united nations of the Haudenosaunee, who also were called the “Six Nations” by English colonists. The five original nations (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca) were joined by the Tuscaroras about 1700 A.D.

THE PEACEMAKER
The Iroquois believe that there are three kinds of ‘humans’ – all members of the five, then six, nations were considered to be ‘humans.’ The first is the human that uses the body only; the second is the human that uses the body and the mind; and the the third is the human that uses the body, the mind and the spirit.

For many reasons, ‘fire’ was of prime importance to the Iroquois [note, when I refer to ‘Iroquois’ I am referring to the five, then six, Nations that make up the Confederacy]. When a man or a woman was able to light and sustain the fire without – the fire that could be seen – AND the fire within – the fire that could be felt but not seen, the fire of love that burns from within but does not consume but nurtures, the fire that warms and nurtures all so that members would love one another, and when this person was a ‘human’ at the third level, then this person was deemed to be ‘The Peacemaker.’

The Peacemaker would travel from Nation to Nation teaching the people about Peace and helping them resolve issues that would be brought before him/her. The issues were resolved through conversation; this conversation was rooted in the Peace Treaty [The Great Law] that each Nation had signed when they joined the Confederacy.

When the Chiefs of each Nation gathered to decide ‘policy’ issues, The Peacemaker was ‘first among equals’ – the Primus inter pares. It is also important to note that the Chief was not a ‘Chief’ for life…he could be voted out by his Nation if he did not serve the people. Although the Chief of each Nation was a man, The Peacemaker, who was not a chief, was either a man or a woman.

A few of our Nation’s Founding Fathers spent time with the Iroquois in order to learn about and understand their form of democracy and brought some of their learning and understanding to the framing of our own Constitution.

To what extent do we, today, embrace the original Peacemaker’s counsel: Think not forever of yourselves. . .